


There's So Much You Have to Know

by crewdlydrawn



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Pre-Canon, Short, Young Peter, first time trying to write these guys so forgive me, parenting, sort of, teaching moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 01:22:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10843563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crewdlydrawn/pseuds/crewdlydrawn
Summary: Sure, Yondu needed to teach Peter to shoot, to steal, and to cheat... but in raising a young boy, sometimes the regular, mundane skills left a bigger impression.





	There's So Much You Have to Know

"How do you do it?"

Quick as the startled blink of his eye, the glowing arrow zipped back into Yondu's grasp, held tight as he swiveled his chair to the side, shrill air cut off from his mouth.  "You know better than to sneak in here, boy," he growled out, teeth bared. 

The skinny slip of a Terran was standing in the doorway, his large eyes wide with a distinct lack of fear.  No matter how many times Yondu threatened to eat him, the boy only seemed to keep closer to his side. 

"I'm _out_ side," came the plaintive clarification, its owner's toes marking the line drawn between the sides of the doorframe.  Small eyebrows pulled downward below feathery bangs. 

Snarling quietly, Yondu twirled the arrow with his fingers.  Rather than concede the boy's point, he ingored it completely, stepping toward him.  "How do I do _what_?"

One foot slipped over the threshhold, followed by the other.  In the more than a dozen cycles he had been aboard the ship, he had already grown from Yondu's elbow to his upper arm, and the shoes he had been wearing on his planet were too small, now.  They needed to be changed, switched for better fitting boots, but it would be another fight to leave them behind.

"The whistling.  How do you do it?"

Raising the arrow, Yondu tapped its tip against the side of his fin, only inhaling to begin a brief explanation before he was stopped by infuriating rolling eyes.

"No, not... not how does the _arrow_ move..."  Peter's voice cracked on the words, a sound more common of late.  "How do you _whistle_?"

Arm stopping mid-motion, Yondu licked at the edge of his teeth.  "You don't know how to whistle?"

"I know _how_ ," his chin tipped upward, the boy's spine stretched a few centimeters before shrinking back halfway to normal, "it just doesn't _work_ when I do it."

In demonstration, Peter made a circle with the edges of mouth, air blowing out in a steady, shh-ing, toneless stream.  A second attempt yielded no better results, and the boy's shoulders sagged.  His eyes, however, remained steady, and Yondu knew the look well enough to know the rest of the day would be occupied by the same request, over and over, if he didn't fix it then.

So he held the arrow firmly--no sense risking accident--and leaned to tap Peter's cheek with his free hand's fingers.  "It's not just the lips, boy."  Spreading his own wide, he tucked his tongue against ragged teeth.  Peter followed suit, and Yondu closed his mouth, tightening his lips to let a long, slow tone ease out, a red thread snaking harmlessly out behind his closed fist. 

Bright pink still showing between parted teeth, Peter watched with sharp eyes, their centers flicking with the barest of movements to take in each motion on display.  Standing on his toes to get a better look at the second demonstration, jaw shifting as he reoriented, he made the O-shape again, and this time earning a faint whine to the whisper.  His surprise kept the air flowing, and Yondu lightly pinched Peter's jaw to shift it further closed, just enough, and out came a clear tone.  A pat to his cheek was his only congratulations. 

Though it lived for only a half of a second, the grin that lit up Peter's face was brighter than any bauble in Yondu's collection.  Many more whistles followed the first, in time, and though the same grin never returned, Yondu saw it in each self-satisfied twitch of the boy's mouth, and remembered.


End file.
